Citadel Girls Get Steamy
by Naalsuul
Summary: While trying to relax during a well-earned vacation, Citadel girls learn that work is never far away...


CITADEL FANFICTION

 **THE GIRLS GET STEAMY**

Naal sighed, tilting her head back and letting her hair drift in the water. Telle reached past her to the small teapot sitting on the rock ledge next to them, poured three cups of jasmine tea, and offered one to her. Naal took it and sipped: perfect, florally sweet and light, not too hot. She looked over at the third member of their group.

"Well? Enjoying yourself yet?"

Suneko was perched on one of the shallower rocks, submerged only to her waist. She accepted a cup a little dubiously. "It's nice," she said, "but awfully steamy. Hard to see if we're being snuck up on."

Telle smiled, and rested her cup on the ledge. "That's what the boys are for," she replied.

"The boys? But...everyone else is still back in Rocheste."

Telle snorted, and Naal grinned. "No they aren't," Telle said. "I told Teava where we were going in the mess hall."

"Huh? So?"

Naal tilted her head and raised one hand, counting on her fingers. "Zon was in the mess hall within earshot, which means he was listening to everything Telle said." Telle smirked. "Zon told Xeph, and…" Naal quirked an eyebrow at Suneko, " _probably_ also Royal. Call it a hunch."

"Royal?" Suneko sputtered, rising out of the hot spring like Venus before sinking back in with a little splash. "Why would _he_ follow us-I mean…"

Naal looked up at the sky, bright blue and veiled by steam clouds. "Whenever we organize a girls' day, we get an escort. They worry about monsters finding and devouring us all while we're relaxing, so we get a watch patrol whether we want one or not," she recited in a singsong voice. "Zon thinks he's being secretive about it, so he picks escorts he trusts to be discreet, and for some reason, _Telle_ ," Telle looked angelic, "he believes Royal wouldn't be a total jerk about the possibility of seeing you in your…" she gestured, and Suneko sat down lower in the water. "Underthings," she finished, smiling.

Suneko sat back up again. The pink of her skin might have been due to the hot water, but the blush across her cheeks wasn't. "So...we're being watched right now?" Her tone of voice wavered between outrage and self-consciousness.

Naal shook her head. "No, they're all gentlemen. They just...patrol. You wouldn't even notice they were there if you didn't know about their little arrangement. Just relax and enjoy the peace and quiet. Scone?" She offered one from the little dish sitting next to the teapot. Suneko took it after a moment, still looking flummoxed, and raised it to her lips.

A hideous scream split the air, and the scone dropped into the water. Suneko surged to her feet, snatched at the chainblades laid within reach of her perch, and stared into the woods, wide-eyed and dripping. Naal and Telle remained sitting, though they both watched the trees from which the cry had emerged.

"Gremlins?" asked Telle.

"Trolls, sounded like," replied Naal.

From the jungle erupted a mass of, indeed, trolls, shrieking their piercing battle cries. It looked like a raiding troop; as they thundered out of the trees, they revealed their numbers to be more than a dozen strong. Suneko started to splash out of the water, but Telle stopped her with a hand around her ankle. "It's _fine_ ," she said. "Sit down, you don't want to fight trolls without your armor anyway, do you?" Naal nodded in agreement, looking amused.

The first troll charged down the slope toward them. Suneko tensed. The troll shrieked again, then fell forward and rolled to a tumbling stop six yards away, an arrow quivering behind its ear. The other creatures paused in their rush, just in time to meet an opposing charge: smaller in number but uniquely deadly in their effect. One warrior, a flashing figure in blue, spun through their ranks like a dervish, leaving chaos behind him. The second hung back near the trees, but made his presence known through the deadly accuracy of his arrows. The final man into the fray, only a little slower than the first warrior, was nearly a foot taller, easily wielding a greatsword as long as he was, swinging and thrusting with force that sent his targets flying.

Naal fished the soggily floating scone out of the water with a slightly mournful look, tossing it over the side. She examined Suneko's expression for a few moments, then returned her attention to the combat with a faint smile. "Interesting...I hadn't seen Royal fight before," she observed.

Telle nodded thoughtfully. "Good form," she said. "Don't you think so, Suneko?"

Suneko was still standing, gripping her chainblades with fingers flexing. The tall warrior looked toward them and seemed to falter for a moment, before another troll claimed his attention by trying to leap on him. He met the leap with a thrust of his heavy weapon, and the fight continued. Suneko slowly, carefully laid her chainblades down in their place and sank back down, resting her elbows on the rocky rim. "Mmhmm," she answered.

The other two women joined her at the rim, watching the fight in thoughtful silence.

"I'm surprised he doesn't have his helmet on," Naal commented, as Royal dodged a shield bash from a massive troll berserker as tall as he was, then riposted with a blow that shattered the bone artifact and threw the creature backward. "You'd think he'd be more cautious."

"It obviously doesn't slow him down at all, though. And his hair's nice, when you can see it," said Telle.

"You're just partial to blondes," Naal smirked.

"...Maybe," Telle smiled as the blue dervish swept entirely around another troll and sent it crashing to the ground with a final gurgle.

"All three of them fighting…" Telle observed after a little while, "make me almost feel sorry for those trolls."

"Yes," said Naal. "It's almost as if they were expecting something more dangerous...though I _can't imagine_ why Zon would have been worried enough to ask Royal along." Telle glanced over, her eyes widening for a moment. Naal met her look with complete nonchalance, then reached back and retrieved her cup, taking a long sip. "Was it a dragon sighting this time? Or something even more disturbing?"

"...Giant snake," Telle finally admitted. Naal looked at her. Telle said defensively, "A _giant_ giant snake. Reports of people being swallowed whole. Ominous glimpses of massive scaly sides slithering through the jungle, that sort of thing." She made an slithery hand gesture, and Naal bit the snicker back behind her lips, mostly.

"Where did you say Royal had picked up that fighting technique?" she asked, after calming down enough to pull the plate within reach and offer a fresh scone to Suneko.

"The Royal Academy, directly under Keaghan," Suneko said quietly.

"Of course, silly me, that's where he got his call sign, wasn't it? Trained by General Keaghan himself, in the art of the greatsword...hmm."

Suneko bit into her scone with an audible crunch.

The fight was intense, but not long. The three warriors were indeed more than equal to the task of dispatching a troll raiding party, and proved it, deadly blades and arrows overwhelming their enemies till the three stood alone among the bodies of nearly twenty fallen. The jungle, recently echoing with the shrieks of battle, now was ominously silent.

"The jig is up, gentlemen," Naal called out. "You may as well come over."

Sheepishly, the three men filed toward them. Or at least, Zon seemed sheepish; Xeph had his poker face on, and Royal seemed truly embarrassed; he shot a glance at Suneko and then looked away, as flushed as she was.

Naal rested her chin on her knuckles, staring at the three, selecting her words for maximum effect. "So here we have three Citadel S-class members, following and spying on three, let us be clear, _other_ S-class members, who are currently on _officially sanctioned_ day leave. Not precisely a violation of Citadel regulations, but I think we can all agree that we have three more members than we expected to see all the way out here, _watching_ us, during our _private rest and recreation_." She emphasized certain words in a way that seemed to gently drill into their recipients' ears.

"In mitigation of this...invasion, there is the fact that these members _did_ save us from having to go back on duty to deal with an, ah, incursion of Fomors, yielding only minimal casualties," she looked down the path of the lost scone. "In light of this, ladies, what penalty do you think the members should incur?"

Zon cleared his throat. "Uh, permission to speak in defense of one of the accused?"

Telle was watching him with bright eyes, and Naal waved magnanimously. "Proceed."

"I...uh, didn't actually tell Royal _why_ we were going out, I just told him we needed backup, though…" he looked around, a little confused. "I was expecting more trouble, actually."

"Hmm. Duly noted," said Naal. "Punitive measures may be may be suspended for the aforementioned member who was not informed of the nature of the mission...at the discretion of the injured party. Does that seem fair, Suneko?"

Suneko, who hadn't looked away from Royal since the fight had started, gave a hesitant nod, and the huge warrior's shoulders slumped slightly in relief.

Telle raised a hand. "I move that the punishment include not having to share the scones."

Naal nodded solemnly. "A good start," she said. "Maybe not quite punitive enough under the circumstances, though...hmm." She caught Xeph's eye just as he smoothed out a faint smirk. "I have in mind more of a labor detail. We _could_ use some assistance."

Zon looked surprised, then worried, then happy, then worried again. "Uh...what do you need assistance with?"

"Oh…" Naal gestured vaguely. "Tea brewing, towel fetching...back scrubbing…" she glanced at Suneko, "I'm sure we'll find some use for you somewhere." Xeph had gone poker-faced again, and Royal was beet red. Naal continued, "After you clean yourselves up, of course. It's a big hot spring, there's room." She regarded the spatters of gore covering the mens' armor and leathers. "Just...downstream, please," she finished. Suneko bit her lip.


End file.
